This invention relates to a mobile phone system with a mobile telephone accounting protocol for mobile phones, and in particular to cellular phones and radio phones that are capable of moving from one transmission station to another in a communication network. In particular, the mobile telephone accounting protocol is adapted for a mobile debit phone in which the communication traffic with the service provider is minimized to expand traffic handling capacity of the service provider by accomplishing the accounting procedures within each mobile phone unit. The mobile telephone accounting protocol is similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,418, which is incorporated herein by reference. In the referenced patent, an accounting system is described which has particular application to a rental phone system or a controlled phone system, such as an intra-corporate system where periodic calculation of phone charges are made prior to receipt of billings from public or switched service providers. In such systems, phone call data is stored in the mobile phone unit and charges are calculated by a host processor after a dialogue is established between the host processor and the phone unit. This system requires that a communication link be established between the host processor and the mobile phone unit and may require that the phone unit be physically connected to the host processor.
Although debit systems with internal debit and credit memory for cordless phones have been previously proposed such systems do not account for the particular complexities of mobile phone systems wherein multiple service providers may be involved in a communication network and the mobile phone is allowed to move or roam across defined zones or cells within a particular service area or across multiple service areas. In such situations, the location of the mobile phone making the call is as important for billing calculations as the location of the phone or stations being called. This added complexity complicates billing procedures for mobile phones and increases the communication session required for remote debit systems, thereby adding to airway traffic.
In addition to the objective of eliminating an accounting session with a service provider for each call made, the mobile phone with internal accounting capabilities greatly expands the potential customer base by enabling persons with inadequate credit to obtain mobile phone service by the use of a pay-as-you-go debit account. In this case, the credit risk is avoided by prepayment of service and call charges, and where credit is extended permits the credit to be provided by an entity other than the service provider, for example by the seller of the phone, or by a billing service that provides credit or pre-paid accounts for mobile phone users.
The mobile phone unit of this invention can be used with a mobile phone rental system as described in reference Pat. No. 5,325,418. Because the mobile phone unit itself includes the accounting capabilities, the rental system can be greatly expanded, allowing the return station to have minimum system hardware, and indeed, requiring only the ordinary equipment necessary to clear an account, collect the charges and store the returned phone for pick-up or return to an initiating station. The mobile phone unit itself calculates the charges on the fly and provides a cumulative account record for review at the return station. The mobile phone system of this invention is adapted for analog or digital cellular telephones, radiophones in personal communication service networks (PCS""s) and other wireless communication systems where it is desirable that call accounting be done on the fly.
The mobile phone system with mobile phones having internal accounting of this invention relates to wireless communication systems having mobile communication devices, particularly mobile telephones that are part of a wireless communication network. In particular, the invention relates to a mobile communication device, such as a mobile telephone unit that includes an internal accounting protocol for internal calculation of communication charges on the fly. Such mobile telephone units or mobile phone units are typically cellular telephones in a cellular phone network, radio telephones in a personal communication service network or other communication system where the communication device is moveable from place to place and requires a complex accounting system for calculating calling charges in real time or on the fly.
Although the primary intended use of the mobile phone system of this invention is intended for mobile debit phone units, where real time calculation of phone charges is necessary to limit phone use or to immediately bill for phone use where the billings of public switched service providers and involved wireless service providers are not yet available.
A real time accounting system carried internally in the mobile phone unit greatly expands the potential customer base for such units and coupled with certain activation and deactivation features allows a new segment of business to become involved in the mobile communications industry. Because credit responsibility can be shifted from the service provider, retailers, billing services, and a host of intermediate entities can be integrated between the phone user and the service provider. Additionally, the service provider can expand its customer base by providing mobile debit phones to its customers with a pre-paid phone credit or with a preapproved credit limit that will deactivate the phone unit if credit is exceeded or credit is not extended by the airway activation and credit transfer procedures that form a part of this mobile phone system. In this manner, the credit risk is limited to an acceptable predefined level.
The accounting system that provides these features is carried internally in the mobile communication device, for convenience, hereafter called the mobile phone unit. The accounting system includes a complex billing algorithm with multiple factor accounting protocol to account for local charges, roaming charges when the mobile phone unit moves from one zone to another, long distance charges, international charges including country independent local charges, and surcharges which may be per call or rate based. The complex billing algorithm can be expanded to accommodate special charges of service providers or called stations or special discounts or premiums for data transfer calls.
The complex algorithm is stored within the phone unit, together with a rate schedule. The rate schedule may be periodically updated by a wireless communication with a host or service provider.
It is to be understood that the mobile phone unit with internal accounting can be implemented into existing wireless communication networks without substantial modification to the network and can be implemented into most existing mobile communication devices with minimal modification, primarily by internal reprogramming of the device.
A mobile phone unit such as a cellular telephone currently includes an internal processor and sufficient internal memory to incorporate the programming and data storage necessary to accomplish the real time accounting. The complex algorithm providing the multiple factor accounting protocol is sufficiently compact that storage and processing of the call data is enabled in real time with sufficient accuracy to account for multiple charges from multiple service providers even for a roaming phone unit. The accounting protocol enables internal tracking of phone usage with activation and deactivation of the phone unit to insure unauthorized usage is prevented. The accounting protocol further includes an encryption system to permit activation and licensed use of the phone unit, and account credit transfers on the fly over the airways.
These and other features of the mobile phone system with internal accounting in the mobile phone units will become apparent upon consideration of the Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments that follows.